Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 272 (Color Image)

0272	Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1

as the people were rousing from their sleep, with the cry of, "Welcome Buzurg M.V.
Khán Tora!"—he was the only son of Jahángír, and one whom the people had been
expecting as a deliverer. Núr Muhammad at once came forward to greet the Khoja with
congratulations on his arrival, and delivering the city to him, installed him in the
palace; whilst the citizens rising en masse hunted, plundered, and murdered the
Chinese everywhere. In the confusion Ahmad Wáng, the Musalmán governor on
the part of the Chinese, with a few others, escaped by the opposite gate and took
refuge in the Mángshía or Yánglshahr with the Chinese garrison.
Walí Khán inaugurated his rule in the city by appointing Andijan adherents
to all the Government offices, and by executing a number of the Chinese officials
and merchants who had flocked to him for protection from the mob; and by dis-
tributing their wives and daughters amongst his partizans, and confiscating their
property to himself. The first to join his party were the Aktaghlue Chiefs of Artosh
and Beshkirim; and Mír Ahmad Shekh, of the former place, in proof of his devotion,
gave his daughter in marriage to the Khoja.
Their example was followed by the chiefs of the surrounding settlements, and P.
Walí Khán soon had a force of 20,000 men at his command. He pressed a number
of Afghan traders whom he found in the city into his army, and set all the iron-
smiths and tailors in the place to work in the manufacture of arms and uniforms
for his troops. At the same time he employed many thousands of the people to
dam the Kizil River at Pakhtaghlic and turn its stream against the Yángishahr
Fort which was held by the Bádárín and Yehdárín, Ambáns, with 6,000 men.
Whilst thus employed at Káshghar he sent a force under Tilá Khán to seize
Yángí Hissár and Yárkand. At the former the Chinese garrison shut themselves
up in the fort, and Tilá Khán passing on invested Yárkand in June 1857. The
Chinese issued from their fort to drive off the besiegers, but were defeated, and fled
back to the shelter of their walls. The city meantime held out, though offering
to surrender on the appearance of the Khoja himself, and Tilá Khán, after plunder-
ing the suburbs, retired on the approach of Chinese succour.
In seventy-seven days after the fall of Káshghar—August—a Chinese force P.
of 12,000 men, with the Ambáns Fákhya from Ila, Sháy Dárín from Orúmehí,
Changtáy from Karáshahr, and others arrived at Marálbáshí to the relief of Yárkand.
Walí Khán sent out a force to intercept them, but it was defeated and driven
back to Káshghar; and the Chinese advancing relieved Yárkand of the enemy.
They halted here ten days to rest their men and settle the city, and then taking
most of the Yárkand troops with them proceeded against Walí Khán at Káshghar.
At Kizilí they were opposed by a force sent out by him to stop their advance,
but immediately attacked and defeated it. The scattered troops, however, rallied
and made a stand at Sugat Buláe "Willow Spring" to contest the passage to Yángí
Hissár. But they were again defeated and put to flight, and the Chinese, carrying
everything before them, at once pushed on and released the garrison shut up in
Yángí Hissár.
They halted here four days, and then marched to recover Káshghar. But Walí
Khán, now deserted by his chiefs and his army who were already disgusted at his
licentiousness and terrified by his violent tempers and capricious judgments, fled
from the city with only a few followers, without even waiting their arrival. He
made good his escape to Darwáz, but was there made prisoner by the ruler, Ismáíl
Sháh, and delivered up to Khudáyár Khán. And thus, after a rule of only a
hundred and fifteen days, in September 1857 ended the last of the Khoja revolts
under the most licentious tyrant and blood-thirsty maniac of that ambitious and
selfish fraternity. In his short reign he committed more bloodshed, and more
oppression, and more villany than either of his predecessors, from whom he only
differed in the degree of his wickedness.
Walí Khán was a degraded debauchee, and was seldom free from the intoxication
of his favourite drug—bháng. His ruthless cruelties and capricious executions, his

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books